stioc
Expedition Leader
Have you ever been on an offroading trip that you felt wasn't ending soon enough or when you got out of the truck to kiss the tarmac when you got to it? I know, pretty darn silly for someone who enjoys the outdoors and less traveled places but it's how I felt on my last offroading outing. I think it was a combination of 110deg blazing sun, 13 cars of varying capabilities and skill level (from a Yamaha Polaris, to a KLR to a stock F250 diesel to a trail-only Bronco and everything in between), erroded and washed away 'trails' that no longer existed. We bashed and smashed our trucks on shelf roads that were strewn with rocks that were sharp and sometimes as big as 2ft with no other way around them. Sure enough they claimed two tires that day with gashes in the sidewalls. Luckily they weren't mine. Mine did take the relentless pounding all day long. Our poor dog even got tossed around in the back and bit his toungue 
Let me back up a bit though, the idea was to go mine exploring in Joshua Tree with a local group and then camp for the night. It sounded innocent enough that it would make me feel comfortable bringing our 9mo pup and my gf, thankfully I didn't bring my kid as some others did. I don't think anyone expected the trails to be this rough. I think I broke a few of my own safety rules on this trip; I should've acted on some of the red flags early on including under estimating the trip, but the alternative was being stuck in the middle of nowhere alone trying to find our way back. In addition, several experienced members suggesting that the terrain would improve further on we chose to stay with the group. Having no cell signal (ATT or Verizon) or a good GPS with Topo maps we didn't have much of a choice anyway. About 2-3pm the large group started whittling down as the others started turning back at various points to go home. In the end it was three trucks that planned to camp on the BLM land but as we started making our way back out to find a place to camp we lost another truck as he turned down another path without any communication on the CB or FRS - which in most cases was useless that day and not because it was FRS/CB but different people were using different devices, channels and what not- this was one what I didn't like the most i.e. even when I called out on the agreed upon channel I didn't get an answer. The trucks in front didn't warn us about the conditions or perhaps suggested we turned back. Anyway, so in the end it was just two of us left in the middle of no-frigging-where, luckily I knew the owner of the other truck fairly well and hence the reason we stayed with them so far- at least we didn't fear for our lives but it was like a bad movie happening. As the sun started to disappear we decided that once we reach the tarmac they'd continue on home and we'd try our luck finding a campsite at the Cottonwood Campground in Joshua Tree. Eventually our caravan of two trucks blazed a trail through rocks, dirt, sand, brush and God knows what else and finally made it back to the tarmac just as the sun set and man was I ever so happy to see that nicely paved black road! We aired up (that VAIR works really well but gets super hot, enough to burn your hand) and headed for the campground. We were lucky to find a nice spot with clean bathrooms nearby. We quickly setup camp in the moonlight, washed up, cooked dinner and then sat for a while recounting the events of the day; it was a very nice ending to a pretty interesting day. Of course, it's all subjective, if I had 35" tires on a built truck with a winch, lockers, sliders, skid plates, a SPOT I think this would've been a fun trip
We couldn't take pics of the gnarly stuff as we were sitting on the edges of our seats asking the Lord for mercy lol
Nice and clean in the morning:
One happy dog...not. The pic was taken before we started.
Brooklyn Mine Jeep Trail:
OOPS! one of the victims with a 4+" gash in the side-wall:
Descending down this thing was scary as the truck slid sideways on the loose surface even with the wheel cranked the other way. Going up it wasn't as bad but the traction was low even in 4-Lo.
Somewhere along the trail:
You can see one of the trucks further down the hill and a tin roof of the shack we visited. The terrain we crossed to get to this area was really erroded and had deep ruts but the shack was stocked with a 5 gal Arrowhead water bottle, folding chairs, unopened boxes of those orange discs used for shotgun practice and few other odds and ends. Someone (or something/zombies? lol) definitely lived here...we decided not to stay long and turned back.
My gf was so happy to see the road too that she sat in the middle of the road to take this pic:
On the way home, the dog's happy again:
Let me back up a bit though, the idea was to go mine exploring in Joshua Tree with a local group and then camp for the night. It sounded innocent enough that it would make me feel comfortable bringing our 9mo pup and my gf, thankfully I didn't bring my kid as some others did. I don't think anyone expected the trails to be this rough. I think I broke a few of my own safety rules on this trip; I should've acted on some of the red flags early on including under estimating the trip, but the alternative was being stuck in the middle of nowhere alone trying to find our way back. In addition, several experienced members suggesting that the terrain would improve further on we chose to stay with the group. Having no cell signal (ATT or Verizon) or a good GPS with Topo maps we didn't have much of a choice anyway. About 2-3pm the large group started whittling down as the others started turning back at various points to go home. In the end it was three trucks that planned to camp on the BLM land but as we started making our way back out to find a place to camp we lost another truck as he turned down another path without any communication on the CB or FRS - which in most cases was useless that day and not because it was FRS/CB but different people were using different devices, channels and what not- this was one what I didn't like the most i.e. even when I called out on the agreed upon channel I didn't get an answer. The trucks in front didn't warn us about the conditions or perhaps suggested we turned back. Anyway, so in the end it was just two of us left in the middle of no-frigging-where, luckily I knew the owner of the other truck fairly well and hence the reason we stayed with them so far- at least we didn't fear for our lives
but it was like a bad movie happening. As the sun started to disappear we decided that once we reach the tarmac they'd continue on home and we'd try our luck finding a campsite at the Cottonwood Campground in Joshua Tree. Eventually our caravan of two trucks blazed a trail through rocks, dirt, sand, brush and God knows what else and finally made it back to the tarmac just as the sun set and man was I ever so happy to see that nicely paved black road! We aired up (that VAIR works really well but gets super hot, enough to burn your hand) and headed for the campground. We were lucky to find a nice spot with clean bathrooms nearby. We quickly setup camp in the moonlight, washed up, cooked dinner and then sat for a while recounting the events of the day; it was a very nice ending to a pretty interesting day. Of course, it's all subjective, if I had 35" tires on a built truck with a winch, lockers, sliders, skid plates, a SPOT I think this would've been a fun trip We couldn't take pics of the gnarly stuff as we were sitting on the edges of our seats asking the Lord for mercy lol
Nice and clean in the morning:
One happy dog...not. The pic was taken before we started.
Brooklyn Mine Jeep Trail:
OOPS! one of the victims with a 4+" gash in the side-wall:
Descending down this thing was scary as the truck slid sideways on the loose surface even with the wheel cranked the other way. Going up it wasn't as bad but the traction was low even in 4-Lo.
Somewhere along the trail:
You can see one of the trucks further down the hill and a tin roof of the shack we visited. The terrain we crossed to get to this area was really erroded and had deep ruts but the shack was stocked with a 5 gal Arrowhead water bottle, folding chairs, unopened boxes of those orange discs used for shotgun practice and few other odds and ends. Someone (or something/zombies? lol) definitely lived here...we decided not to stay long and turned back.
My gf was so happy to see the road too that she sat in the middle of the road to take this pic:
On the way home, the dog's happy again:
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